Huge win for car owners! All TSBs to be made public.
The Center for Auto Safety just made the NHTSA (US Government) make public the full text of all TSBs from now on. They are the same organization that has petitioned the NHTSA & filed lawsuits to protect car owners over exploding gas tanks & other major safety issues.
Whenever you drive in your car, you are safer thanks in part to a lot of work over the years by this small but very effective consumer advocacy group.

NHTSA — Visibility: Windshield Wiper/Washer Problems

CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2002 Ford Focus 2.0L SOHC engine has a defect where the intake valve seat fails. The valve then falls into the cylinder, destroying the engine & most owner relationships with Ford in the process.

5.6

fairly significant

Crashes / Fires:

0 / 0

Injuries / Deaths:

0 / 0

Average Mileage:

16,000 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

Search for Car Problems

2002 Ford Focus Owner Comments

Focus 4-cyl

Automatic transmission

50,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Windshield wipers frequently fail without notice during rain events despite expensive repairs. Sometimes I have smelled smoke and am concerned having heard that the Focus wiper motors have caused fires in the past. Two Ford dealers have failed to isolate problem.

Focus 4-cyl

Automatic transmission

14,000 miles

While driving I lost all power to the car. It completely shut down and I could not start it. It has been towed to dealership to be fixed twice. I do not feel safe driving this car with my kids in it. I don't think the problem is fixed and I'm waiting for this to happen again. Now I need to take it back to the dealership again because there is a bad vibration in the front end. I had it there previously for this also, and they said it needed the tires rotated and balanced. Even though it is still under warranty, they charged me $36....the vibration is worse now so obviously that wasn't the problem. Oh I forgot to mention that the trunk won't latch properly and the windshield wipers won't go the whole way down when you turn them off. This car is not safe to drive. The dealership acts like they haven't had any complaints with this car!

Focus

miles

Windshield washer fluid disappears when you drive the car. I put in over 3 gallons, even though we did not use the washer. It is impossible to see how much fluid is in the container as it is hidden in the wheel well. We visited the dealer 4 times. Although he says he replaced the system, the problem is not fixed. In the northeast, we have severe snow and ice storms. Failure of the washer system during an ice storm would be a safety hazard. It would require stopping the car at frequent intervals on a dangerous interstate highway to clead the windshield. The dealers solution: "carry a gallon of wiper fluid in the car at all times." He can't fix it. Says it is a design defect. Can you force Ford to make good on this? note: This form says the airbag was deployed. It was not.

Focus

Manual transmission

miles

The original Firestone tires (205/50R16) wear out prematurely. The vehicle becomes unsteady on bumpy, wet or snow covered roads, causing the driver to lose control. The rear tires vibrate and chatter when driving on wind roads and on open roads at highway speeds, also the rear tires were showing irregular and premature wear. The manufacturer representatives stated that improper factory alignment specification were the cause of the problems. Auto door locks malfunctions. The rear hatch door was misaligned and would not close properly, the rear window washer would not spray properly and the rear window washer nozzle failed, there was an odor coming from heating or A/C system, the power steering line was leaking. The transmission was difficult to shift into 2nd gear and reverse when it was cold, the child restraint brackets was putting dents in the rear seat

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